South Africa v Burkina Faso

Nothing less than victory will do for South Africa when they face Burkina Faso on Saturday at the FNB Stadium after their 2-0 midweek loss to Nigeria in the Nelson Mandela Challenge. Against the Super Eagles in Durban, it was the same old story for Bafana Bafana as they failed to match what was at times promising build-up play with any sort of potency in attack. When chances were created, shots were all too often off target and weak, wrong options were taken; in general there was a worrying sense of indecisiveness and a lack of confidence in the final third of the field. "We created a couple of chances but we could not get on to the end of them, the difference between us and Nigeria was in the final third. It was a good test for us," said Bafana coach Gordon Igesund. "We can only improve. We need to play top teams in order to grow. It was not one way traffic. We just did not have the patience in the final third." Igesund's comments unfortunately reflect what we hear from coaches in the PSL nearly every week. Its unfair to blame the coach when players miss chances, but somehow Igesund needs to try and turn things around. He has spoken about making some changes for Saturday's game, and would do well to shake things up in midfield. Reneilwe Letsholonyane was particularly wasteful at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, and wanted far too much time on the ball. Siphiwe Tshabalala had his moments in attack, but at international level he is exposed for his lack of pace and weak physique, losing possession far too often. Thuso Phala was also poor against the Nigerians. Blessed with great speed and power, Phala looks great when up against a defender physically inferior to him. But when he comes up against a player who can match his physical attributes, the SuperSport United winger appears to run out of ideas. If Igesund is brave enough, he could look at bringing in one, or all of Lebogang Manyama, Hlompho Kekana and Lerato Chabangu, just to shake things up in midfield a bit and hopefully provide more urgency and potency in attack. Whichever side Igesund goes for, one thing is for sure: victory is non-negotiable. Public confidence in the national side remains on a downward slope, and the lacklustre showing against Nigeria did little to change that. Burkina Faso could, however, prove to be very tough opponents. They are an unfashionable team, lacking the big-name players possessed by teams such Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon. But as they proved in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, when they went all the way to the final, the Stallions are every bit as powerful, and often as deadly as their west African neighbours and will easily overrun and outmuscle Bafana if given the chance. Burkina, who go into the weekend's match on the back of a win over Morocco, hope to use the game as preparation for their upcoming World Cup qualifier against Gabon, a must-win game for them as they sit second in their group. Coach Paul Put hopes to use the occasion to try out some new combinations - there will be absolutely no pressure on the visiting side. "It's a big occasion for us, it's going to be a great day of football, but at the end of the day we have to go out there and try to win this game. We'll go out there and try a few things and give some players opportunities," he said. "This is what we have to use these games for; give certain players a chance to see if they can get up to that level or not. Of course we'll try and get a positive result behind us; this is a very important preparation game for us."